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The new article by Costanzo Ranci, Jason Backfield, Laura Bernardi and Andrea Parma has been published by Social Indicators Research:

New Measures of Economic Insecurity Reveal its Expansion Into EU Middle Classes and Welfare State

Economic instability, social changes, and new social policies place economic insecurity high on the scholarly and political agenda. We contribute to these debates by proposing a new multidimensional, intertemporal measure of economic insecurity that accounts for both its multiplicity and its dynamism. First, we develop three theory-driven, multidimensional measures of economic insecurity. Principal Components Analysis validates the measure. Second, we develop a dynamic approach to insecurity, using longitudinal data and a newly revised headcount method. Third, we then use our new measures to analyze the distribution of insecurity in Europe. Our analysis shows that insecurity is widespread across Europe, even in low-inequality, encompassing welfare states. Moreover, it extends across income groups and occupational classes, reaching into the middle classes.

The article is available in open access on the journal’s website:: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-021-02709-4

This work was supported by PRIN 2017 project “Rising inequality and the sociaI insecurity of the middle class: measures, drivers, policies” (project code 20175HE4MS) financed by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research.